Sept. 14 Updates

FRISCO, Texas – Cedrick Wilson will make his active roster debut on Sunday.

With Tavon Austin missing practice all week with a head injury, Wilson is being called up from the practice squad to be the Cowboys’ fifth receiver in Washington. Linebacker Chris Covington is being released to make room on the roster.

It’s been a long time coming for Wilson, who was a sixth-round draft pick in 2018 before spending last season on injured reserve. The Boise State product didn’t make the initial roster coming out of training camp, but he’ll now have a chance to show his stuff.

With Austin sidelined, Wilson figures to back up Randall Cobb as the Cowboys’ punt returner, in addition to special teams and possible slot receiver duties.

Sept. 13 Updates

3:13 p.m. – Wide receiver Tavon Austin and rookie linebacker Luke Gifford have been ruled out of Sunday’s game against Washington. No other Cowboys player has their status in question for Sunday, according to the official injury report.

The Redskins have ruled out a few key players, including running back Derrius Guice (knee) tight end Jordan Reed (concussion) and defensive tackle Jonathan Allen (knee).

If Austin can’t play Sunday against Washington, the Cowboys currently would have only four healthy receivers for the game. They could look to sign a receiver, possibly Cedrick Wilson, off their practice squad by Saturday at 3 p.m. Central but would have to make a cut in order to do so.

Defensive lineman Tyrone Crawford (hip) did well in his return to practice Thursday and should practice again today, Garrett said.

10:35 a.m. - Cowboys DB coach Kris Richard, who filled in for coordinator Rod Marinelli in this week's media briefing about the defense, was asked about both Taco Charlton and Trysten Hill, who were inactive in Week 1.

"They’ve come back and competed. We all know how it works. The best guy is going to be up and available for us," Richard said. "We’re in the humbling business. The NFL will humble you. He’s handled it great. He’s come back this week and has been focused and ready to go."

Hill, a second-round pick from UCF, is hoping to make his NFL debut this week in Washington.

Sept. 12 Updates

Yes, the stat sheet said the Cowboys’ quarterback had a perfect passer rating in Sunday’s win against the Giants. Predictably, Prescott said he saw plenty to work on that had nothing to do with a passer rating.

“I don’t ever honestly even look at the rating,” he said. “There’s a lot of other things I guess I could say I look at. Timing, was I in the right spot, were my eyes in the right spot, what was the anticipation -- things of that matter that a rating doesn’t justify.”

3:32 p.m. - The Cowboys still have a lengthy list of players on the injury report, but only a couple that did not practice. One of them is wide receiver Tavon Austin, who has missed both practices this week with a concussion. Austin’s availability for Sunday is now in jeopardy, and it’s likely the Cowboys will keep him sidelined for Sunday, unless he returns to the field Friday.

Defensive end Tyrone Crawford improved from DNP to limited with his hip injury and should be able to play on Sunday.

3:29 p.m. – Jason Witten first knew offensive coordinator Kellen Moore had an impressive football mind when Moore was a backup quarterback on the Cowboys’ roster in 2015.

“Talking about the coverages we were seeing and what was different and how we were going to adjust,” Witten recalled. “He was quite like an assistant coach for (former offensive coordinator) Scott (Linehan). And I think he gives Scott a lot of credit for kind of bringing him into this league. And now he’s kind of branched off to his own identity in a lot of ways.”

Sept. 11 Updates

3:56 p.m. -- Tyrone Crawford sat out most of training camp and all of the preseason with a hip injury but returned to action in Week 1. But he was on the injury report Wednesday after missing Wednesday’s practice with a hip injury. It could just be a precautionary measure, but head coach Jason Garrett didn’t seem overly concerned that Crawford would be back in the lineup this week.

Safeties Darian Thompson (ankle) and Donovan Wilson (ankle) were both limited in practice on Wednesday after missing all of last week, and then the game with injuries.

3:46 p.m. – It wasn’t just that Dak Prescott threw for 405 yards against the Giants. He completed passes to seven different receivers, including four touchdowns to Amari Cooper, Jason Witten, Randall Cobb and Michael Gallup.

That type of balance is key moving forward.

“I think it’s a good start. It says a lot that everybody’s making plays,” Cooper said. “The Redskins are going to have a harder time game-planning for us, and hopefully we can come out, practice hard this week and have the same result on Sunday.”

3:44 p.m. -- Starting right guard Zack Martin said his back feels good after returning from a preseason injury in time for the opener against the Giants.

“It held up well,” Martin said. “Kind of still stick the program as we go along in the season and make sure that I’m out there on Sundays.”

Martin sat out a good portion of training camp and preseason to rest and rehab the injury. The Cowboys subbed in Xavier Su’a-Filo at right guard in the second half with a comfortable lead against the Giants, not because Martin aggravated the injury.

Linebacker Chris Covington is back on the roster and could have a role in this week’s game in Washington. The sixth-round pick from 2018 was released earlier this month and placed on the practice squad. But he replaces Jordan Chunn, who was cut on Tuesday after he played one game.

Covington gives the Cowboys more depth at linebacker, and another backup along with Justin March to help on special teams, especially while rookie Luke Gifford rehabs his ankle injury.

The Cowboys filled Covington’s practiced squad spot with Darius Jackson, who has now on his fourth stint with the team after being drafted in 2016.

8:16 a.m. -- Dak Prescott is the NFC Offensive Player of the Week, winning the honor for the first time in his career.

Prescott became only the second quarterback in team history (Craig Morton) to post a perfect 158.3 passer rating, throwing for 405 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions in last Sunday's 35-17 win over the Giants.

Prescott is now one of only four players in NFL history to produce 400 passing yards, four passing touchdowns and a perfect passer rating in a single game.

Sept. 10 Updates

Chunn was initially waived at final cuts on Sept. 1, then signed to the 53-man roster last week before Ezekiel Elliott returned from his contract holdout. Chunn was active against the Giants and appeared in 16 special teams plays.

11:50 a.m. – As expected, Dak Prescott was one of three finalists for this week’s FedEx Air & Ground Player of the Week. His 405 passing yards with 4 TDs and a perfect passer rating of 158.3 is one of the greatest individual performances in team history.

But he’ll have some tough competition even with this award, going up against Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson, who also had a perfect QB rating with 5 TDs, along with the reigning NFL MVP Patrick Mahomes, who had 378 yards and 3 TDs.

Each Tuesday morning of the regular season, through Thursday at 3 p.m. ET, fans can visit NFL.com/FedEx or the NFL Twitter page to vote for their favorite performances of the week, with FedEx awarding a $2,000 donation in the winning players’ names to The USO.

Sept. 9 Updates

5:52 p.m. – From the sounds of it, the Cowboys came out of Week 1 pretty cleanly.

Cowboys coach Jason Garrett updated the team’s injury status during his Monday press conference, and there were only a few concerns coming out of the win against New York.

“Jeff Heath got banged up a couple different ways, but hopefully he’ll be OK to practice this week,” Garrett said. “Randall Cobb also had a lower rib thing he was dealing with, so we’ll see what his availability is on Wednesday.”

Heath spoke with reporters in the locker room on Monday and said he’d be able to go on Wednesday. Cobb’s status will bear monitoring later in the week.

Zack Martin left the game in the second half, but Garrett confirmed it was only a precautionary measure. The All-Pro had been limited by a back injury during the preseason.

“Zack seemed to do fine in the game,” Garrett said. “Obviously he hadn’t practice very much with that back injury, so we had an opportunity to take him out and put Xavier in, so we went ahead and did that. There was nothing in the game that said ‘Let’s take Zack out.’”

“I think in due time it’ll find it’s way and I think we’ll put this in the rearview mirror hopefully sooner than later,” Jones told 105.3 The Fan.

“It’s just a matter of finding things as you get closer that are really important to Dak. And obviously we’ll continue to verbalize what’s really important to keep as many of these players as we can on this young football team and he understands and appreciates that. At the same time, he’s got really good representation and they’re also wanting to make sure someone’s really looking out for Dak and they’re doing a great job of that. We’ll just continue to progress.”

9:13 p.m. – After spending the preseason rehabbing from offseason shoulder surgery, Pro Bowl pass rusher DeMarcus Lawrence made a key play in the third quarter when he stopped Giants quarterback Eli Manning for a sack/fumble on fourth down from the Cowboys’ 7-yard line. The Cowboys took a commanding 25-point lead one possession later in their eventual 35-17 victory.

The defense held the Giants to 2 of 11 third-down conversions, but Lawrence and his teammates weren’t satisfied with their overall performance.

“It’s all about going out there and making our plays and making our stops, and I don’t feel like it was good enough,” Lawrence said. “So we have to keep building and get better at this.”

7: 22 p.m. - With so many stars on the offensive side of the ball, don’t forget about some of the defensive standouts, including Vander Esch in his Year 2 debut.

The linebacker made a few “wolf calls” throughout AT&T Stadium, flying around the ball. The stat sheet gave him 10 tackles, with a half-sack, a pass deflection and a forced fumble, which was recovered by Chido Awuzie in the fourth quarter. Vander Esch’s combo sack with DeMarcus Lawrence occurred on a fourth-down and resulted in a fumble.

6:09 p.m. – Here’s what Cowboys chief operating officer Stephen Jones said on Pregame Live about the status of contract talks with quarterback Dak Prescott:

“Yeah, I think there’s momentum. We obviously want to take care of Dak. He’s our future. He’s our quarterback for the future. This business has gotten really big in terms of what these contracts represent. His people, Dak, want to get it right. We want to get it right. And I feel like at some point here, as long as they’re willing to keep working into the season, we’re certainly willing to. And the same holds true for (wide receiver) Amari (Cooper). He’s got a great group. And at some point we want to get that deal done too.”

As Sunday's opener winds down with the Cowboys leading 35-10, Prescott currently is 25-of-32 for 405 yards, 4 touchdowns and no interceptions for a perfect 158.3 rating.

Halfway through the Cowboys’ season opener, they hold a 21-7 lead against the New York Giants. The biggest reason for that is an outstanding early performance from their offense, which has racked up 305 yards and 17 first downs at halftime.

Blake Jarwin’s success against the Giants continues. After catching a career-high three TDs against New York in last year’s regular season finale, Jarwin found the end zone against the Giants with a 28-yard TD catch in the first quarter.

That gives Jarwin four touchdowns against the Giants in the last five quarters – but also four for his entire career – all against the Giants.

2:00 p.m. – Trysten Hill and Taco Charlton will have to wait to make their 2019 debuts.

The Cowboys have announced their game day inactives for Week 1 against the New York Giants, and both of the young defensive linemen are among them.

Hill and Charlton are the headliners, but the full list includes Darian Thompson, Donovan Wilson, Adam Redmond, Brandon Knight and Luke Gifford.

As always, several of these inactives are a result of injury. Thompson and Wilson have both been limited by ankle injuries and did not practice all week, while Gifford is still recovering from an ankle injury suffered during the preseason.

The rest of this is a numbers game. With only 46 spots available on the game day roster, it was always going to be a challenge for Redmond and Knight to be active, as they are currently the ninth and 10th offensive linemen on the roster.

The same can be said for Hill and Charlton – although that’s admittedly disappointing, since they’re both highly-touted draft picks. Between special teams work and versatility along the defensive line, the Cowboys’ coaching staff ultimately opted to make Joe Jackson and Kerry Hyder active instead.

As disappointing as it might be for Hill and Charlton, it’s quite a story for Jackson, the fifth-round pick out of Miami. Given the talent on this defensive line, Jackson fought tough odds to even make the active roster, let alone play a role on game day.

That role might be small when considering the talented pass rushers playing in front of him, but Jackson could see time at both defensive end and defensive tackle.

For Hill and Charlton, perhaps their chance will come next week in Washington.

11:13 a.m. -- The Cowboys won't officially announce their seven inactive players until 90 minutes before Sunday's kickoff, but Taco Charlton indicated Saturday on Twitter that he doesn't expect to play against the Giants.

Charlton tweeted, "Maybe next time Eli. I guess I'll have to wait for that now," in reference to the Giants' veteran quarterback.

The Cowboys are deep on the defensive line, which will require some tough choices on game day, even with defensive end Robert Quinn suspended the first two games.

Sept. 6 Updates

6:29 p.m. – As he said Thursday, Cowboys chief operating officer Stephen Jones told 105.3 The Fan the club is “holding out hope” it can agree to a new contract with quarterback Dak Prescott by Sunday’s season opener.

At the moment, Sunday doesn’t appear to be a hard deadline for either side, however. Jones reiterated that the club is “open for business” to talk contracts into the season if necessary.

“I know sometimes the players don’t care to do that, but we can obviously juggle that and do that and would be fine with doing that,” Jones said.

2:22 p.m. - The veteran linebacker is obviously no stranger to the injury report, but he was listed as “Did Not Practice” on Friday, however the team is saying it wasn’t injury related.

The Cowboys have given veteran days to several players, and Lee apparently got one on Friday. He is still expected to play on Sunday, especially considering the Cowboys are rather shorthanded at linebacker, with just five linebackers practicing this week: Leighton Vander Esch, Jaylon Smith, Joe Thomas and Justin March and Lee. Rookie Luke Gifford (ankle) has been ruled out.

1:58 p.m. – The Cowboys’ defense pride itself on being a strong tackling unit. That will be put to the test Sunday against Giants star running back Saquon Barkley.

The season opener always tests a defense’s tackling ability because teams don’t go to the ground in training camp.

“I think that’s an awesome opportunity for the whole entire defense to go up against a runner like that because it’s going to test all of our tackling skills right off the bat,” linebacker Leighton Vander Esch said. “It’s going to tell us a lot. I’m excited for it.”

10:40 a.m. - By playing on Sunday, Jason Witten will become the longest-tenured Cowboys player in franchise history, playing in his 16thNFL season with the team. He already owns the record for most games played with 239 and most starts with 229.

When Witten retired last year, he remained tied with three other players – Ed “Too Tall” Jones, Bill Bates and Mark Tuinei for years of service with the Cowboys at 15 seasons. But Sunday will take Witten to an even higher level.

Sept. 5 Updates

3:58 p.m. – The Cowboys’ injury report remained the same from Wednesday, with only three players still not able to practice Thursday: linebacker Luke Gifford and safeties Darian Thompson and Donovan Wilson.

Starting right guard Zack Martin (back) had limited participation again, but head coach Jason Garrett said before practice that Martin hasn’t had any setbacks and is simply working back in.

The Giants’ injury list had one addition: offensive tackle Mike Remmers was limited due to an illness.

2:01 p.m. - Dak Prescott said he's still in no hurry to get a new contract, even after watching his teammate and friend Ezekiel Elliott score a $90 million extension with $50 million guaranteed earlier this week.

"There's still no timetable," Dak said on Thursday. "I'm focused on the Giants and their defense."

Prescott only laughed when asked if he ever considered a holdout such as Elliott, who missed all of camp and the preseason.

The Cowboys have remained in talks with Prescott and his agent regarding a new deal, with reports ranging that his asking price has even been as high as $40 million per season, which would be the most in the NFL.

11:04 a.m. - While Zeke talked for a while on Wednesday, he’ll get a chance to discuss his new deal even more.

The Cowboys have called for a 2 p.m. press conference Thursday at The Star, likely to involve both owner/GM Jerry Jones and chief operating officer Stephen Jones.

Zeke signed his six-year, $90 million extension on Wednesday before his first practice since the summer. The All-Pro running back held out for 40 days, missing all of training camp and the preseason, looking for a new contract.

2:12 p.m. - After missing an entire season with Guillain Barre Syndrome, Travis Frederick is trying to say it’s just another game. But even he knows that’s not the case.

“I think this week is a big step for me. In my head, I’m not making a big deal,” he said. “But, at some point, you have to look back and reflect a little bit on what last year was like and how big an accomplishment it really is to be back. It’s one thing to be back, but I just don’t want to be out there I want to be playing at a high level and doing everything I can to help this team win.”

Frederick made the Pro Bowl at center from 2014-17 and is certainly looking to regain that same form.

The Cowboys turned the corner on defense last year, particularly because of the improved play of youngsters such as Leighton Vander Esch, Byron Jones and Jaylon Smith.

So what can we expect from this group in 2019? Smith was asked to name one big difference from this year’s defense.

“Attention to detail. We’re a team that prides itself on stopping the run and being physical and that sprints to the ball,” Smith said. “We understand our identity and we just have to go out and prove it every week. It’s Week 1 and its’ here. We have to step up to the plate.”

2:03 p.m. - While Frederick is making his own comeback this week when he starts at center against the Giants, his first question on Wednesday regarded another return, in the form of Ezekiel Elliott.

“He just brings energy to the building and to the group. We’re happy to have him back,” said Frederick, who asked when Zeke would start to contribute. “I think it’s immediate (his impact). The fact we have him back and can have him out there, we’re excited to see him doing his things. You see, he looks great.”

12:04 p.m. – Now that Ezekiel Elliott is back with the Cowboys, what’s the plan for him this week?

Elliott is practicing in pads with his teammates today, and head coach Jason Garrett said they’ll monitor his on-field work, having been away from the team since mid-June.

“He’s in very good shape, he looks good, but he hasn’t been practicing with pro football players,” Garrett said. “We’ll just see how he fits back in, but he’s a quick study, he’s a smart guy and he’s got an excellent football IQ. We’ll just see where he is and adjust accordingly as we go.”

12:18 p.m. – Head coach Jason Garrett said the Cowboys’ veterans who sat out with injuries late in training camp – Zack Martin (back), Tyron Smith (back) and Amari Cooper (heel) – responded well after Monday’s practice and are expected to participate on some level Wednesday.

10:38 a.m. - Just before heading out to the practice field on Wednesday, Elliott officially signed the contract that guarantees him $50 million and over $100 total in the next eight years.

Elliott hasn’t practiced since the final minicamp back in June. He chose not to report to training camp in late July and has been away from the team for 40 days before agreeing to the contract early Wednesday morning.

Zeke signed the deal and literally sprinted off to get ready for his first practice since the summer.

Sept. 3 Updates

7:22 pm – While there has been nothing official to report from either side, it does appear Ezekiel Elliott and the Cowboys are getting closer to a deal. Some media reports have even speculated a new contract will be finalized as early as Wednesday.

However, on Tuesday Zeke returned from Cabo, where he has spent the last few weeks training. he was met by reporters who asked if he was ready to play.

9:17 a.m. – On Monday, La’el Collins hadn’t yet agreed to his long-term contract extension. But he spoke at length about his enjoyment playing with the Cowboys’ offensive line and being part of the organization as he enters his fifth season.

“Honestly, I think this is one of the best things to happen to me, coming here,” Collins said. “For me, it prolonged my career in the way of just the coaching that I’ve been able to get since I’ve been here.

“I’m excited to be where I am in my career right now, going into year 5, year 3 at right tackle. I’m just ready to go out there and show what kind of player I am this year and show what kind of unit we are as a group.”

Multiple reports surfaced Tuesday morning that Collins was close to finalizing a new five-year extension Tuesday. Speaking during his weekly interview on 105.3 FM The Fan, Cowboy owner/general manager Jerry Jones confirmed that fact. Jones didn't disclose the terms of the deal, but he did allow that it's been agreed to.

"We’ll have those coming, but we’ve agreed to them and they’re good and they’re good for both parties."

Collins has started every game at right tackle the past two seasons. He was entering the final year of a two-year extension he signed in 2017, though it sounds like he'll now be under contract for quite some time.